Chapter 7 - the missing eight seconds
Barnes began talking before anyone asked him to.
"Rourke's lying."
Rourke smiled.
"Of course."
Barnes looked at Jack.
"He ordered Tyler dead."
"Did he?"
"Yes."
Jack stepped toward him.
"Then why edit the recording?"
Barnes stopped.
Cole stared at him.
"You changed it?"
Barnes looked away.
Rourke opened Tyler's laptop.
Encrypted screen.
"Eight seconds were removed from the phone file before Cole copied it."
Cole shook his head.
"I copied it before Barnes destroyed anything."
Barnes laughed bitterly.
"You copied it after I had the phone alone for twenty minutes."
Cole's face fell.
Rourke continued.
"Those eight seconds matter."
Jack looked at him.
"Show me."
"The key."
"No."
Rourke sighed.
"Still stubborn."
Jack pointed toward Webb's body.
"You killed him."
Rourke's face changed.
"No."
"Then who did?"
Everyone looked at Barnes.
Barnes shouted, "Don't."
Rourke pressed a remote.
A projector turned on.
Security footage appeared against the warehouse wall.
Nathan Webb kneeling behind the courthouse.
Barnes standing in front of him.
Cole farther away.
The video had no audio.
Webb said something.
Barnes shot him.
One round.
Chest.
Cole recoiled in horror.
"I didn't see that."
Rourke nodded.
"You had already gone toward the alley after noticing Tyler."
Cole stared at the screen.
Barnes struggled against the chair.
"He was going to expose everything."
Jack looked at Rourke.
"You had the video."
"I had cameras watching Barnes."
"Why?"
"Because Rick was stealing from me."
Barnes shouted, "I built this county for you."
Rourke looked at him with contempt.
"You skimmed thirteen million dollars."
Cole stared.
Barnes said nothing.
Jack realized the conspiracy was splitting.
That made everyone more dangerous.
Rourke continued.
"Nathan Webb discovered Barnes's theft. Unfortunately, Webb also discovered mine."
Elena was listening through a transmitter hidden beneath Cole's collar.
Jack knew every word was being recorded.
Assuming Rourke had not detected it.
Rourke walked around the laptop.
"The missing eight seconds contain Webb telling Barnes where he stored his evidence."
Jack looked at Tyler's computer.
"And my son's buffered audio captured it."
"Exactly."
"So this isn't about Tyler."
"It became about Tyler when Barnes shot him."
Barnes shouted, "He was running."
Rourke turned.
"Because you pointed a gun at him."
Jack almost appreciated the irony of a murderer criticizing another murderer.
Almost.
He looked at Rourke.
"If you didn't order Tyler killed, why send men to the hospital?"
Rourke smiled slightly.
"I didn't."
Jack stared at Barnes.
Barnes looked toward the floor.
Cole whispered, "Voss."
Barnes said nothing.
It made sense.
Barnes had ordered the hospital attack.
Rourke wanted Tyler alive because Tyler was the only person who might know where the original audio went.
Jack looked at Rourke.
"You've been protecting him?"
"Your son?"
Rourke nodded toward unseen guards.
"Several times."
Jack remembered the black SUVs following the hospital van.
Maybe they had not been hunting them.
Maybe they had been following Barnes's men.
Rourke seemed to read his thoughts.
"The first SUV belonged to Barnes. The second belonged to me."
Jack's anger did not lessen.
"You're still a criminal."
"I never claimed otherwise."
"And Blackridge?"
"Mine."
"Stolen federal money?"
"Some."
"Private detention contracts?"
"Yes."
"Disappearances?"
Rourke paused.
"More complicated."
Jack stepped closer.
"It never is."
Rourke smiled faintly.
"That's why I missed you."
Jack's hands curled.
Rourke saw.
"Careful. We both know how this ends if you decide to fight."
Jack looked around.
At least six armed men visible.
More outside.
Cole beside him.
Barnes tied down.
Webb dead.
Tyler's laptop.
Rourke continued.
"The key."
Jack touched the device around his neck.
"What happens after I open it?"
"We learn where Webb's evidence is."
"And then?"
"I leave."
"With the evidence."
"Yes."
"What happens to Barnes?"
Rourke looked at the sheriff.
"That depends whether federal agents arrive before I decide he's irritating me."
Barnes went pale.
Jack heard something in that sentence.
Federal agents.
Rourke knew.
He looked toward Cole's collar.
Cole froze.
Rourke smiled.
"Hello, Elena."
He tapped the side of his own ear.
A receiver.
Elena's voice came through Cole's transmitter.
"Daniel Rourke, you are surrounded."
Rourke laughed.
"No, Counselor."
Lights suddenly illuminated outside the building.
Dozens.
Jack turned.
Vehicles were approaching.
But not federal.
County sheriff cruisers.
State police.
Private Blackridge trucks.
Elena's voice sharpened.
"What did you do?"
Rourke looked at Jack.
"I told you Blackridge was taking the county."
He walked toward the window.
"At midnight, emergency authority transfers to a regional security command because of a manufactured cyberattack on the county infrastructure network."
Cole stared.
"What?"
"Power grid, emergency communications, water controls."
Jack understood.
"You created a crisis."
Rourke nodded.
"Then Blackridge solves it."
"Martial law by contract."
"Such an ugly phrase."
"You control the sheriff."
"Not anymore."
"The state police?"
"Enough."
"County government?"
Rourke smiled.
"By tomorrow morning."
Cole whispered, "This is insane."
"No. It's paperwork."
Rourke pointed toward Tyler's laptop.
"Nathan Webb discovered contracts assigning Blackridge emergency authority over every critical county service."
Jack stared.
"Why Mill Creek?"
"Because counties are easier than countries."
Rourke's voice became colder.
"Control infrastructure. Control communications. Control police response. Control money."
Jack said, "And then repeat it."
"Across the state."
"Across the country."
Rourke smiled.
"There he is."
Jack hated that Rourke still recognized how he thought.
Rourke extended his hand.
"The key."
Jack removed it from his neck.
Cole whispered, "Jack."
Jack ignored him.
He approached the laptop.
Rourke's guards tightened around them.
Jack inserted the hardware key.
The screen unlocked.
Folders appeared.
Tyler's development software.
School documents.
Projects.
Then one directory automatically opened.
A temporary microphone cache.
Hundreds of audio fragments.
Rourke leaned closer.
Jack found the timestamp.
He played it.
Rain.
Webb shouting.
Barnes.
Then the missing words.
Webb said, "Tyler Road storage facility. Locker 614. That's where the originals are."
Barnes answered, "Nobody else heard him?"
Rourke's voice came through Barnes's speakerphone.
"Tyler heard too much. Kill him."
Jack closed his eyes.
Tyler Road.
Not Tyler Hart.
Barnes had cut the word Road from the audio.
Cole whispered, "Oh God."
Rourke said, "Now we know."
Jack looked at him.
"Locker 614."
Rourke nodded.
Then Barnes started laughing.
Everyone turned.
Rourke frowned.
Barnes's laughter grew louder.
"You really think Webb kept the files there?"
Rourke's expression changed.
Barnes smiled through blood.
"I found that locker yesterday."
Jack watched him.
"It was empty."
Rourke stepped closer.
"Where are the files?"
Barnes grinned.
"I moved them."
"Where?"
"You need me now."
Rourke stared at him.
Barnes enjoyed the moment too much.
That was his mistake.
A gunshot cracked.
Barnes jerked.
A red mark appeared on his shoulder.
He screamed.
Rourke's pistol smoked.
"Where?"
Barnes gasped.
"You kill me, you never find them."
Rourke aimed again.
Jack stepped between them.
Rourke looked surprised.
"Move."
"No."
"He tried to murder your son."
"And he answers in court."
Rourke laughed quietly.
"Twenty years and you're still pretending rules protect people."
Jack stared at him.
"No."
"Then why save him?"
"Because Tyler needs to see the man who shot him convicted."
Rourke's smile faded.
That answer reached somewhere he did not want touched.
Outside, gunfire suddenly erupted.
Cole grabbed Jack's arm.
"Federal team."
Rourke's guards moved.
Jack pulled the laptop off the table.
Rourke shouted.
Jack slammed the screen shut and threw it to Cole.
"Run."
The warehouse lights died.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Jack heard Rourke's voice.
"Don't make me kill you, Jack."
Jack answered from the dark.
May you like
"You've been trying for twenty years."
Then the first explosion shook the rail yard.
